Tractor-trailer latest target in Arizona highway shootings

By Greg Grisolano, Land Line associate editor | Friday, September 11, 2015

A tractor-trailer is the latest vehicle to be fired upon in Phoenix, bringing the total number of shooting incidents to 11 in 12 days.

Officials with the Arizona Department of Public Safety say the truck driver was not injured after a bullet struck the truck at 5:29 a.m. Friday on the southbound lane of Interstate 17 near Thomas Road.

Several shootings have taken place in the Phoenix metro area, a series of events that DPS Director Col. Frank Milstead referred to as “acts of domestic terrorism” earlier in the week. Authorities are offering a $20,000 reward for information on the shootings.

Only one person – a 13-year-old girl who was cut by shattered glass – has been injured so far in the shooting incidents, according to DPS spokesman Bart Graves.

The shooting incidents have occurred along Interstate 10 in Phoenix and began in the late morning on Saturday, Aug. 29, when two vehicles were struck within a half-hour of each other on I-10 between 19th and 59th Avenues. A third vehicle was hit on the same freeway late that night. The fourth vehicle was shot on Sunday, Aug. 31, at about 4:25 a.m. in the same area, according to reports.

Graves said the vehicles involved in the initial incidents were a local commercial truck, a bus, and two passenger cars.

On Tuesday a Phoenix police sergeant’s personal vehicle had a passenger window shattered while the officer was driving to work on eastbound I-10.

Police are asking motorists to be alert and exercise caution in the area. Graves said anyone with information about the shooting or who observes suspicious persons or activity should call the Arizona DPS at 602-644-5805, or Silent Witness, an anonymous crime hotline for the Phoenix metro area at 480-948-6377.